Giveaway!

Welcome to the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway day!  (And my mother's 60th birthday!)

Today there are three options.

I'm giving away a headband, like I'm making all the (girl) cousins for Christmas.  (Knitted with a crocheted flower.)

And I'm giving away this little (4x5 ish) coptic-bound book, handy for writing things in.

And, in case you want to do it yourself, some boucle yarn, in three colors.  I tried (ignoring the label) to crochet with it (about 2 feet of the yellow), threw a fit, and decided not even to try knitting with it.  Maybe you'll have more luck!

To enter, tell me what you'd like - that's all.  Open until the 17th.  Yes, I do ship internationally (but it may take past the deadline for me to ship to you, as I can't use the automated postal unit for international shipping, and the post office is only open when I'm at work).

Watch This Space

I'm still alive!

My hours changed at work (I know, shoddy excuse), so I've been getting home later, and haven't had time to post things before dinner.  In six months.  Anyhow,  I'll be in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway tomorrow, so come back then! 

Bibs!

I'm in the SewHappy bib challenge! 

I completed this bib with the topstitching method.  The back is solid blue dots.  It matches one of the self-binding baby blankets I made recently (which had trains on one side, dots on the other and the binding).  I used cotton flannel and all-cotton batting.

This one isn't complete, so it probably won't make it into the challenge -- I got the wrong kind of bias tape.  (I could make my own, but I'd have to buy fabric specifically for it, as I don't have enough matching fabric, so it's cheaper -- well, it is if I buy the right kind -- to buy it.)  It's leftovers from the recent baby quilt (scroll down a few posts) -- alternating cotton and cotton flannel.

This is the back.  I'll be using brown bias tape around the edges. 

I'll also make embellished burp cloths (from prefold cloth diapers) with the rest of my scraps.

Grandmother Quilt

I did it -- I went to Sunflower Quilts and got a quilt kit, as I mentioned below.  My dental hygienist sent me there, which entertains me.  Had great fun at the shop, and last Saturday made these four blocks (not perfect, as the corners really aren't exact, but I'm very pleased), and yesterday made four more.

I'm always impressed by the women who can apparently do everything.  With a full-time job, getting home after 6:30, a husband who likes to eat dinner together, and an 8:30 bedtime, on my days off I can either make stuff or do housework/buy groceries/etc.  But the people who do both, and have kids, impress me.  I approve of homeschooling, and, if we weren't in a place full of good schools that I can trust, we might consider it if necessary, but I don't have the self-discipline and organization to do that.  I taught high school, and in a parochial school where we came up with our own lesson plans and lectures (none of that cushy stuff that some of my friends in public schools have -- and that I've seen/used when subbing at public schools, where your lectures and lesson plans are all pre-made by some syndicate!  (And yes, I know, not all public schools do that -- but some very highly-ranked and highly-regarded ones do)), and it was certainly a lot of work!  I certainly can't understand single mothers who homeschool (respect them, yes, but grasp how their lives function, no) -- if you're also having to earn a living for you and your children, how do you do it and also manage to teach multiple levels of children and stay with them all day?  The 1990s Supermom (who had a high-powered job, ran a perfect house, and raised perfect children with no hired help) stereotypically ended up on speed for a reason, I think! 

But, that said, my goals for the rest of the day:
-bring the workbasket downstairs to corral some of the loose knitting/clothing repair projects
-3 loads of laundry
-dishes
-find books that are owed to various people (good thing working at the library means no late fees!)
-go to post office (across the street)
-grocery/gas (Costco?)
-plan meals for the next 2 weeks
-pharmacy
-water plants (and, if enthusiastic, mow as well)
-call AT&T to figure out why the TV won't work
-only if all else is finished: play!

Cricut sale!

Cricut sale -- this is a serious sale!  I'm tempted... although I suppose it's still out of my price range, and I'd probably never use it...

Baby hat

So many pregnant friends... one's due in October and wants hats, so here's a sweet one with laceweight mohair blend from Yarnorama in Paige, TX, my favorite store (if only it were closer!).(Ravelry link.)

Baby quilts

I've never been good at coming up with colors and fabrics that go well together, and I've always been a sucker for kits of any kind (Himself knows the way to please me -- get me sets or kits or samplers!)  So, when I saw these baby quilt sets at Joann's, I had to get them.

2 friends, one pregnant, one I just found out adopted a newborn five months ago.

I do like the way these turned out.  The doggy quilt is backed with the faces from the center top and bottom panels; the duck quilt is backed with the blue dotted flannel.

I especially like that there's no binding involved, just like the self-binding baby blankets I like making.  No batting either, which I don't mind using, but batting is expensive.  Just turn and handstitch the opening closed.  I don't like handstitching either, and I think it looks better with topstitching anyhow, so I topstitch across the opening and all the way around.  A little stitch-in-the-ditch (nasty hard when one side of the ditch is yellow or brown plush!), and you're ready to go!

I'm thinking of making bibs or burp cloths with the extra fabric scraps.  We'll see.

Of course, what did I do but go out and buy a larger-sized actual (with-binding-and-batting) quilt kit for my grandmother for Christmas...